12/6/12

Things That Go Bump in the Night

"A cup of kindness that we share with
another
A sweet reunion with a friend or a brother."

- It Feels Like Christmas (The Muppet
Christmas Carol, 1992)

I had to interrupt and postpone an
unusual New Year's mystery, when M.P.O. Books' Dodelijke hobby (Deadly
Hobby, 2012), a slender, soft-cover volume comprising of a novelette, a
pair of short stories and some promotional material, arrived in the mail – an
early Christmas present, to be sure!

Dodelijk hobby was originally published as a downloadable, free-give-away ebook, after being
shelved for a number of years when Books and his previous publisher parted
ways, but due to its enormous success (close to 80.000 downloads!) and numerous
requests for a print version, it was "bookformed" with some of his other,
earlier material. The tales that make up this book show the other side of Books, a crime writer who's also aware of the works of the literaties laboring
in his field. Except for the second, classically styled story and the titular
novelette shines with his love for intricate plotting and the Sherlock Holmes
canon. Books also announced the title of his next District Heuvelrug novel: Een
afgesloten huis (A Sealed House, 2013). I told you it was likeChristmas came early this year!

Deadly Hobby takes place during the dark, snowy days of Christmas that André
Lourier was hoping to spend in the company of Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Dickens. He's house-sitting a remote village that belongs to his cousin and her
husband, who's an avid collector of Delfts blue, miniature houses and has build
quite a collection up in his secured attic-room. But it's due to André that
burglars were able to swipe the entire collection from under his nose and with
the Christmas celebrations in full swing, the police are understaffed and their
hands tied-up to more press casings. So the housekeepers decides to turn
detective and help the attractive inspector, Inge Veenstra, help finding the
thieves and restore the collection.

But it's a fare more complex story
involving more than just a stolen city of Delfts blue houses. Just in the first
half, a number of apparently unrelated plot threads are introduced that all
tie-together in the end. This is very reminiscent of the kaleidoscopic plotting
technique Books used in De blikvanger (The Eye-Catcher, 2010) and
De laatste kans (The Last Chance, 2011), which had very
satisfying results. Unfortunately, Deadly Hobby missed out on the
opportunity of giving the reader a fair shot at cracking the case themselves,
but that still leaves the reader with a well-written crime story that literary
keeps you guessing until the end!

Interestingly, Deadly Hobby has a
weird tie-in with the Van Dine-Queen and Hardboiled School. This is completely
coincidental, but interesting, nonetheless. André Lourier assumes the role of
amateur sleuth in a case revolving around collectors and the movement of
everyone involved ends up being very important for the solution. This plot
complexity with a clear and understandable solution was something these writers
aimed for and we also get to see Books' series character, Inspector Bram
Petersen, and his team of policemen work on another case – a triple homicide
echoing the crime from Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot." Books
also continued to flesh out his characters in this book, which helped made the
story feel part of the series instead of standalone (all that in less than 90
pages!).

Less typical of the Van Dine-Queen
School, but more so for the Hardboiled guys, was the portrayal of criminals and
few physical altercations, including André getting knocked on the head and
locked up in a room, while the burglar plundered the attic, after which he's
determined to set the thing right himself. Much like a chivalrous, lone-knight
in a raincoat and fedora would've done. As a matter of fact, André's situation
reminded me of The Nameless Detective’s predicament in Bill Pronzini’s "Where Have You Gone, Sam Spade?"

"Handige dief!" ("Handy Thief!") was
penned nine years ago for the Dutch website Crimezone. The story is set in an
English, countryside village in the present time, but the status quo of a
previous era has remained in tact and the villagers have gathered on the
cemetery to pay their last respects to a local baron – who's to be buried in
the family tomb with a valuable brooch encrusted with stones. A local "handyman," Harold Straker, plans to relieve the baron from his Earthly
possession, but the ancient tomb is equipped with modern locks. A fun little
story with a twist.

"De indringer" ("The Intruder") is a
straight up thriller and involves a well-to-do, but insecure woman, who finally
found a companion before he went missing. One night, she finds that there's an
intruder in the house. Has he returned? Not my kind of story, I'm afraid.

All in
all, this volume served a few nice morsels of crime to whet the appetite for
what’s coming next year.

No comments:

Post a Comment

The Usual Suspect

An Elementary Observation

Welcome to the niche corner, dedicated to the great detective stories of yore and their neo-classical descendants.

Witnesses' Statements

"It's my job to fan the fires of your imagination with tales of doom and gloom; right now I have another chilling tale for you. A tale of danger and mystery..."- Vincent Price (Grandmaster of the Macabre)."The detectives who explain miracles, even more than their colleagues who clarify more secular matters, play the Promethean role of asserting man's intellect and inventiveness even against the Gods."- Anthony Boucher.

"I like my murders to be frequent, gory, and grotesque. I like some vividness of colour and imagination flashing out of my plot, since I cannot find a story enthralling solely on the grounds that it sounds as though it might really have happened. I do not care to hear the hum of everyday life; I much prefer to hear the chuckle of the great Hanaud or the deadly bells of Fenchurch St Paul."- Dr. Gideon Fell (telling it like it is since 1933).